Official Raw thread

[futballiscool]

Only because WWE had such little talent back then they couldn't sustain separate shows. Now they have a ton more talent and with the addition of NXT they have a sustainable development organization where they didn't have that before.

Just the roster now, plus the return of the injured stars, plus a handful of obvious NXT callups (Samoa Joe, Nakamura, Balor) and they're overflowing with PPV matchups for both brands.

I realize there will always be injuries but there were so many over the last year that some of it was coincidence. Plus with the roster split almost everyone should get at least one extra day off a week. That should help too

 

[OregonDucks]

Whereas Super Cena spurts up to miracously come back...Roman Reigns gets "hurt" and hides for about a 1/3 of the match then returns to deliver the superman punch and get the win.

 

[Ewa PGH Fan]

With a brand split coming in July the release of Damien Sandow is a real puzzler.

 

[futballiscool]

With a brand split coming in July the release of Damien Sandow is a real puzzler.

There must have been some weird political reason behind it. I don't necessarily mean that he did anything wrong.It could have been as simple as Vince just not liking him...

Throw him in the social outcasts. Make him a part of a random tag team. Give him a match once a month on main event...

He can cut a promo and the crowd loves him. That should be enough to hold a job there

 

[anotheridiot]

There must have been some weird political reason behind it. I don't necessarily mean that he did anything wrong.It could have been as simple as Vince just not liking him...

Throw him in the social outcasts. Make him a part of a random tag team. Give him a match once a month on main event...

He can cut a promo and the crowd loves him. That should be enough to hold a job there

I wonder if they are thinking about complete split and whoever runs smackdown will start signing wrestlers and bring back the NWA world title.

 

[futballiscool]

I wonder if they are thinking about complete split and whoever runs smackdown will start signing wrestlers and bring back the NWA world title.

Meltzer is saying there will be a new championship for Smackdown, I'm thinking 2 world titles again

 

[OregonDucks]

IF they do a split, let it be a real split, like how they wanted the original WCW purchase be. Where the original plan was to have it run as its own show, almost own company.

Make it a real split and not some storyline split. If they do this, I may be more willing to tune into the different shows as I can choose the roster I want to watch.

The last time Smackdown became the B show and it was ridiculous.

 

[anotheridiot]

IF they do a split, let it be a real split, like how they wanted the original WCW purchase be. Where the original plan was to have it run as its own show, almost own company.

Make it a real split and not some storyline split. If they do this, I may be more willing to tune into the different shows as I can choose the roster I want to watch.

The last time Smackdown became the B show and it was ridiculous.

That was just because they went away from what they were planning on doing with the titles and wrestlers only working on one program. They gave up too fast. Its going to go up right against Impact zone too, unless they are moving that on POP. That was when smackdown took the NWA world title when the WWE title was not even considered a world title. I guess we will see if they end up with another talent draft, but they did mention a cruiserweight competition so that might become a belt on one show.

 

[OregonDucks]

That was just because they went away from what they were planning on doing with the titles and wrestlers only working on one program. They gave up too fast. Its going to go up right against Impact zone too, unless they are moving that on POP. That was when smackdown took the NWA world title when the WWE title was not even considered a world title. I guess we will see if they end up with another talent draft, but they did mention a cruiserweight competition so that might become a belt on one show.

Gave up too soon? The brand split went near or over 10 years of being in existence.

I didn't like it at first because at the time it originally happened I tuned into both RAW and Smackdown because Smackdown was actually very relevant in building on storylines that were happening on RAW. SCSA and The Rock, Triple H, etc. would wrestle on both Raw and Smackdown and matches were relevant, promos were relevant on smackdown. Now I don't evne know what day or channel Smackdown is on. When the split happened they tried to make the rosters even, but Smackdown always had that B rated show feel to it.

And near the end of the first brand split, Smackdown was the B rated show and there was no hiding it. It was nothing more special then Superstars.

I don't think WWE gave up on the brand split too soon, rather then just seeing it flop near the end because they didn't have the talent needed to fill two shows. Hell, they cant even fill a 3 hour RAW right now with all the talent they have, which IMO is ridiculous because WWE has the amount of talent now then they have in over a decade.

 

[Duffman]

SD has never been live every week before. It's easy to see SD as the B show when it was taped and airing on Friday or Thursday. Now that it's going to be on Tuesday live every week it adds an importance to it that it's never had before.

 

[iowajerms]

I think WWE blew a huge opportunity with Reigns and Rollins. The set up was perfect for Reigns to go heel and Rollins to be face. Reigns has been "I'm not a good guy, I'm not a bad guy, I'm the guy." Phrase that easily could easily transition him heel. Rollins coming back from injury, he could easily have been face just by acting like one. But of course, Rollins bashed the crowd and is a heel.

I didn't mind the Charlotte segment. We knew it was going to happen sometime soon. I thought it went okay. Can't really make it not corny. I just think it was more of a Smackdown moment instead of a Raw moment.

I want to wait a little longer before I comment on the MITB match.

 

[handicappers]

 

[anotheridiot]

maybe I was not paying attention enough. I remember the locker room splitting, fights breaking out, draft between raw and smackdown, which seemed to get redone a few years in a row and eventually everyone wrestling on both shows again. I just mean build up smackdown and stick with it. I think it could be interesting to do "trades" between the shows, but not an all out draft every year, and like I wrote before, give each GM the right to sign their own talent so these cody rhodes and sandow newsworthy releases are actually new signees.

 

[anotheridiot]

AJ Styles says he will retire in a couple years, wants to stay in ‪#‎WWE‬ after he hangs up his boots http://wrestlingnews.co/aj-styles-says-he-will-retire-in-a…/

more little guy syndrome, will probably be concussed soon and end up losing out on his future plans to be behind the scenes.

 

[wildturkey]

AJ Styles says he will retire in a couple years, wants to stay in ‪#‎WWE‬ after he hangs up his boots http://wrestlingnews.co/aj-styles-says-he-will-retire-in-a…/

more little guy syndrome, will probably be concussed soon and end up losing out on his future plans to be behind the scenes.

More like he's almost 40 and wants to actually be able to move around and enjoy his retirement unlike Undertaker, Ric Flair, etc who can barely move.

 

[Hitman Hart]

Yeah, AJ is nearly 40 and has taken some insane bumps along the way.

 

[OregonDucks]

AJ is old, but still puts on a show like a young guy. It's a shame such a great talent wasn't on the grand stage like WWE until now.

Same with Samoa Joe...WTF is he still doing in WWE's "developmental" league??? Joe needs to be on the main roster now.

 

[futballiscool]

Yeah, AJ is nearly 40 and has taken some insane bumps along the way.

AJs taken some bumps but he's usually had a really light schedule. TNA had little to no house show schedule through most of his run there and in Japan and the Indies he set his own dates. Plus I'm hopeful he can impress the
WWE brass enough where they'll take him off the road full time in 2 or 3 yrs but let him work major PPV programs

 

[futballiscool]

AJ is old, but still puts on a show like a young guy. It's a shame such a great talent wasn't on the grand stage like WWE until now.

Same with Samoa Joe...WTF is he still doing in WWE's "developmental" league??? Joe needs to be on the main roster now.

Just to put AJs age in prescriptive...

Bret Hart was a few months away from his 40th birthday when he had his "I Quit" match with Austin at Wrestlemania. Flair turned 40 during his trilogy of matches with Steamboat. Undertaker and Shawn Micheals were in their early 40s at WM XXV and XXVI. Cena is the same age as Styles and he was putting on the best in ring performances of his career before he got injured. I really think AJ's at his best right now. He's probably lost a half a step if you compare him athletically to 2006 X division AJ, but he makes up for it in every other part of putting on a match

 

[wildturkey]

AJ is old, but still puts on a show like a young guy. It's a shame such a great talent wasn't on the grand stage like WWE until now.

Same with Samoa Joe...WTF is he still doing in WWE's "developmental" league??? Joe needs to be on the main roster now.

No idea but a kickass way to bring him up would be at the MITB show, have it be Anderson/Gallows vs AJ/Mystery Partner and have it be Joe. I think most would expect Finn Balor, given the Bullet Club connection, so it'd be a decent swerve. You've got Joe's history with AJ as a rival/respected colleague so it works there too. and ultimately you can call up Balor to feud with both and we've been seeing what Joe and Balor can do with each other on NXT (tear the house down)